To Market! To Market!

To market, to market…
…to buy a large stone dragon?Perhaps just a dragon fruit?
The second* stop on my Saturday tour o’ the markets took me to MT Supermarket, the large Asian supermarket found in the Chinatown Shopping Center in North(ish) Austin.

*Actually third…but that’s beside the point. I like grocery stores, OK?
After leaving the farmers market, Teddy called to see if I had any interest in hitting up MT Market. Since I had wanted to visit for months (four to be exact, since the first week I moved to Austin and Teddy told me about it) I told her I would, of course, accompany her.

Upon arrival, I immediately encountered this turtle…
…and his fishy friends.
If that isn’t a portent of an exciting afternoon of food shopping , then I don’t know what is.

Among the exotic fruits (including that dragon fruit), dried fish, and extensive options of frozen meats and refrigerated soy products, we found the most fully stocked noodle aisle I have ever seen.
Not only did we find millet noodles (for 89 cents!)…
…Teddy discovered some noodles made with, and I quote, “excellent flour.”
I passed both of those up, however (although the Sweet Potato Fern Root noodles were especially tempting), because I had to find an immediate space in my basket for these:
Oh yes: PUMPKIN NOODLES. They are made with pumpkin and wheat flours, and I have no idea what they are going to taste like. [I haven't yet cooked 'em up.]

Me: “What am I going to do with three pounds of pumpkin noodles?”
Teddy: “Eat them?”
Me: “No, seriously. I do not need these.”
Teddy: “How about you have a pumpkin party?”

And that, my little Smarties, is how obsessive ideas are formed. [Don't think I haven't started planning that menu.]

After a quite hilarious-if-taken-out-of-context conversation about the frozen “(steamed) buns and (sesame) balls” during which Teddy left with Steamed Curry Buns and I walked away with these Sweet Potato Sesame Balls…….we discovered some seemingly out-of-place products in the tea aisle:

natto = fermented soybeans

That large bag containing individual packets of what we can only assume to be hyped-up oatmeal with pumpkin and an insane seven-grain blend of every seed known to man was so intriguing….but I left it on the shelf…instead grabbing the Whole Grain Cereal with Curry. (It was a cheaper, “what the heck is this?” splurge than the others.)

I passed up the interesting, “Instant Peanut Dessert.” (We concluded it turned into peanut butter pudding and I, for one, will be going back for that.)
I did bring home some Peanut Powder, because it may be the closest thing to the Trader Joe’s Peanut Flour all y’all keep talking about and making me jealous over.
I also brought home some Lotus Nuts, because when my friend Terri was in China this summer, she had told me I would like them. (We’ll see….)
After two hours of wandering the aisles, I turned to Teddy and said, “I’m having the best date ever. Right now. With you. In this grocery store.” Unfortunately for both of us, we were there with each other and not cute boys.

Have you ever seen a dragon fruit before?
Cool, and slightly freaky, huh?
SO frickin’ awesome.
Easy to peel…

…sometimes.

Yum!

I can’t wait to take that to school. They thought overnight oats were weird? What d’ya think they’ll opine about dragon fruit?